through space and time

How suits have evolved since the dawn of the space age

Mercury suits

Years active: 1961–63 Originally designed for the Us navy, the aluminium-coated Mark-iv pressure suit offered protection against unpressurised conditions during manned Project Mercury missions. Instead of a backpack of oxygen, the gas was fed into the suit via an ‘umbilical cord’ at the waist.

sk-1

Years active: 1961–63 the very first spacesuit was the sk-1 model worn by Yuri gagarin during his historic Vostok 1 flight that orbited the earth. the bright orange suit was pressurised and contained auxiliary life-support systems.

Gemini suits

Years active: 1965–66 Used in the first Us spacewalk by ed White, the gemini suit was based on the pressure suit used for the hypersonic X-15 rocket plane. the layers that made up the suit increased during the gemini programme to facilitate different missions.

apollo suits

Years active: 1968–75 the Apollo A7L suit was worn during moonwalks and was the first suit with an independent life-support system. It also featured an outer thermal Micrometeoroid garment layer to shield against lunar dust.

sokol-kv2

Years active: 1973–present the Russian-made sokol suit is tailored to fit each astronaut. the suit can be connected to the soyuz’s life-support system to provide two hours of oxygen and carbon dioxide removal in the event of emergency decompression.

shuttle ejection escape suit

Years active: 1981–82 When early space shuttles had ejection seats, this suit was designed to protect the wearer up to altitudes of 24 kilometres. Instead of a life-support system, it relied on astronauts falling to lower altitudes after ejecting. thankfully, it was never needed.

Launch entry suit

Years active: 1988–94 Used on sts-26 to sts-65 missions, the Les could provide 30 minutes of air supply in case of an emergency, plus a survival backpack with a parachute, raft and survival equipment in case astronauts landed in the wilderness.

extravehicular Mobility unit

Years active: 1983–present nasa’s current EVA suit is effectively a self-contained spacecraft. It features a hard torso shell and an internal cooling suit, and it can typically provide life-support for 8.5 hours. the Russian Orlan suit (pictured above-left) is also used for evas on the Iss.

advanced crew escape suit

Years active: 1994–2011, possible future use the Aces was born from the Us Air Force’s high-altitude pressure suits. the bright orange ‘pumpkin’ suit made space shuttle crew members easy to spot if they bailed out in landings at sea. nasa are currently modifying the suit for future Orion missions.